“We don’t want them to play in our household right now until they understand how physical and how demanding the game is. Then they can have their choice in high school, we’ll talk over it,” he said. “But right now there’s no need for it. There’s enough sports they can play. They play basketball, they play soccer, they play everything else but football and hockey.”

“It’s a safety thing,” James continued. “As a parent you protect your kids as much as possible. I don’t think I’m the only one that’s not allowing his kids to play football, it’s just that I’m LeBron James and it gets put in the headlines for no reason.”

In addition to being one of the most highly touted high school basketball players of all time, James was an all-state wide receiver at St. Vincent-St. Mary High School in Akron, Ohio. He stopped playing football after his junior season because of a broken wrist suffered in the offseason.